That’s not quite the case here in the United States, where adoption of the contraptions haven’t quite reached the same levels seen in the land of Vladimir Putin. That being said, they have developed their own following, allowing for a nice selection of dash cams for motorists interested in capturing footage on the road.

This brings us to the Thinkware F770 Dash Cam.

As someone who tested the Aukey DR-01 and the Swann Navigator HD, the first thing I noticed about the Thinkware F770 was its design. Unlike the square-shaped cameras with rear monitors that are now common in the market, the F770 adopts a more elongated design that has a bit of a 1980s vibe to it.

Here’s a closer look at the camera and what you get with it.

What’s in the box?

Open the package and you’ll see the main camera body for the F770 at the very top.

Take out the dash cam and lift up the cardboard flap and you can access the contents at the bottom half of the box. These include a power cable with a plug that connects to your vehicle’s car lighter slot. You also get a mounting clip as well as several adhesives.

What I especially liked is the addition of a microSD card as well as an adapter for plugging it into your computer's SD Card slot. This is a nice quality-of-life inclusion as I’ve had to hunt down cards for other dash cams I’ve tested before, with the Aukey, in particular, requiring a high-speed card so I had to actually order one online.

You also get an instruction book in various languages.

The design

The F770 sports a rectangular design with a camera that rotates 90 degrees to account for horizontal or vertical mounting.

The top side contains the camera’s controls, marked by a row of buttons for power, formatting, Wi-Fi, voice recording and general recording. I found these buttons to be a lot more intuitive than the onscreen menus of other dash cams. The bottom side, meanwhile, has slots for sliding in the mounting attachment, which can stick on the back of your rear view mirror with one of the included adhesives.

You’ll find a port on the left side for the F770’s microUSB and power cables while the right side of the device has a tiny little hole for resetting the dash cam.

I thought the design looked solid overall but it comes with its share of pros and cons. On the plus side, I like how you have the option to hide the camera behind your rearview mirror, for example. This makes it less noticeable than the cameras that attach to your windshield, which allows for a cleaner-looking installation while also reducing the chances of someone seeing your camera and breaking your car window to steal it.

The main downside is that you don’t have a built-in video display that shows the camera is recording. You can link it to your phone via the Thinkware mobile app, which helps ensure you align the camera properly while mounting, and also access its controls. Without your phone, however, you can’t easily access its buttons or check if it’s working once it’s mounted. Another issue is that the connection to the mount seems a bit loose, which isn’t a problem during normal driving but isn’t quite as secure for incidents where you might have to steer sharply, which, by the way, is also when you likely need video evidence the most.

Camera performance

Video quality from the F770 is good for a dash cam.

It certainly won’t be as nice as the footage you get from a dedicated camera like a DSLR or a popular mirrorless camera, and you’ll notice artifacts at high speeds or low light. But as far as dash cams go, this is one of the better ones out there when it comes to video quality.

The camera performs well in high-contrast situations where you have mixed light and shadow, allowing you to see detail in dark areas without completely blowing out the brighter areas. Low-light performance is also solid, particularly when Super Night Vision is turned on.

The inclusion of GPS capability, as well as a sensor for automatically detecting collisions or motion when parked, provide added flexibility as well.

Wrap up

Thinkware’s F770 is a solid performer that serves up good video for a dash cam. The lack of a video monitor and need to hook up to an app for easier access makes it more cumbersome to use, especially if you don’t have your smartphone handy. It boasts several features, however, and the inclusion of a memory card helps blunt its higher price tag.